The Education Bill has its second reading in the House of Lords today, and over the last week the British Humanist Association (BHA) has briefed peers in preparation for the debate. The BHA believes the Bill will increase the proliferation of ‘faith’ schools and will allow ‘faith’ schools to discriminate more widely against staff and children.
The Bill passed through the House of Commons unamended, and so the BHA has focussed on the same issues as it did when briefing MPs. As it stands now, the Education Bill:
- Creates a new, centralising power allowing the Secretary of State to permit new and widespread religious discrimination in employment in Academies ‘converted’ from voluntary controlled schools. Voluntary controlled schools, which make up a third of ‘faith’ schools, are able to apply a religious test when appointing up to a fifth of their teachers, but the Secretary of State will be able to extend this to all teaching staff.
- Encourages the proliferation of unaccountable ‘faith’ schools including Academies and Free Schools that divide communities and discriminate against local people.
- Permits religious discrimination in school admissions including new Academies and Free Schools, while at the same time removing important powers of scrutiny and modification of school admissions arrangements from local people and the Schools Adjudicator. Schools in an area will no longer be required to create an Admissions Forum, and the Schools Adjudicator will no longer be able to modify a school’s admissions arrangements.
BHA Faith Schools and Education Campaigner Richy Thompson commented, ‘Without amendments, we believe that the Education Bill will greatly increase the risk of unnecessary and unjustified religious discrimination in the maintained schools system. Instead of dealing with existing problems with admissions and employment, this Bill represents a retrograde step in further increasing these issues.’
Notes
For further comment or information, contact Richy Thompson on 020 7462 4993.
Read the BHA’s briefing for Lords second reading of the Education Bill.
Read more about the BHA’s campaigns work on religion and schools.
The British Humanist Association is the national charity working on behalf of ethically concerned, non-religious people in the UK. It is the largest organisation in the UK campaigning for an end to religious privilege and to discrimination based on religion or belief, and for a secular state.